Awami League (AL) senior lawmaker Tofail Ahmed on Thursday outright rejected opposition BNP’s demand for the non-party caretaker government and said the next general election would be held under the “government of Sheikh Hasina.” “We want to make it absolutely clear that there will be no non-party caretaker government as demanded by BNP for conducting the next elections in the country,” he told the Jatiya Sangsad in response to BNP senior legislator Barrister Moudud Ahmed. Tofail Ahmed said the present AL government would take all necessary measures for holding a free, fair and credible general election under the existing Election Commission (EC) and urged the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to participate in it. The Awami League leader referred to the victory of BNP candidates in recently held city corporation elections in Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal and said the present government proved one more time beyond doubt that free and fair elections can be held under it.
He claimed that all other elections in the country prior to the polls of the four city corporations were also held in a free, fair and credible manner under the present government and assured all parties including BNP that the next general election would also take place in a similar way.
Despite the debacle for the ruling party-backed candidates in the four city corporation elections in four divisional headquarters, Tofail Ahmed said his party AL has learnt from the mistakes it made in the city polls and said it is not afraid of participating in a free and fair election.
-With The Independent input
